Neon Genesis Evangelion Sucks
“Neon Genesis Evangelion (???????????, Shin Seiki Evangerion?), commonly referred to as NGE, Eva, or Evangelion, is a commercially and critically successful, influential and popular Japanese anime that began in October 1995;”“A titanic and compelling show. The most controversial series ever made. The greatest anime of all time. These are just some of the things you will hear if you mention Evangelion”
” Mere words cannot do Eva justice. Neon Genesis Evangelion is just incredible. I am in asolute awe of its genius and depth. I loved the combination of religion, philosophy, and science fiction. This series stands as the best anime ever.”
“Evangelion is a genius work of storytelling. The way it can make 26 episodes make one great story with the most definite solution to a problem (mankind) I have seen yet, makes me feel really happy inside.”
“If u had to pick among all of the Japanese anime ever created… Neon Genesis Evangelion has to be one of, if not THE most influential animes ever created. “
These are just some of the things people are saying about NGE on the net. Its basically a global worship of it. And I can go on until tomorrow finding quotes.
It baffles me though. Why??? Well, I think I qualify as an almost veteran-level Otaku now. Just some of what I’ve seen and continue to follow include :
- Sailor Moon
- Dragonball/Z/GT
- Inuyasha
- Cowboy Bebop
- Jigoku Shoujo
- Death Note
- Naruto/Shipuuden
- Fooly Cooly
- Rurouni Kenshin
- Bleach
- Yu Yu Hakusho
- Elfen Lied
- Tokyo Majin
- Gundam Wing
- G Gundam and..over the Carnival holidays..Neon Genesis Evangelion
So I’m no n00b. However, I’m yet to see what’s the big deal about NGE. It isn’t deserving of most of the worship of anime fans as its been subjected to, and for crying out loud, stop saying its the work of a genius.
I really did try to like NGE, after having read some of the above comments about it. But I tried and failed, as not only does NGE not live up to its hype, but I think it SUCKED, to the point of, after watching all 26 episodes and the movies, being angry for wasting approximately 1000 minutes of my time.
NGE is a mishmash of religious symbols with inexplicable, very loose or even non-existent connections to the actual storyline, bundled together with a cast of some sick, seemingly sociopathic and weird characters, plus a large dose of confusing science fiction. And I’m not just deducing all this based on the fact that after much thought, research and second viewings of episodes that I still don’t understand what the fuck most of what was injected into the story means as it was said :
Because Christianity is an uncommon religion in Japan we thought it would be mysterious. None of the staff who worked on Eva are Christians. There is no actual Christian meaning to the show, we just thought the visual symbols of Christianity look cool.
- Kazuya Tsurumaki, Assistant Director of Neon Genesis Evangelion
“Evangelion is like a puzzle, you know. Any person can see it and give his/her own answer. In other words, we’re offering viewers to think by themselves, so that each person can imagine his/her own world. We will never offer the answers, even in the theatrical version. As for any Evangelion viewers, they may expect us to provide the ‘all-about Eva’ manuals, but there is no such thing. Don’t expect to get answers by someone. Don’t expect to be catered to all the time. We all have to find our own answers.”
- Hideaki Anno, Director of Neon Genesis Evangelion
Not that I needed to find quotes from the people that actually thought up NGE to support my opinion, but wow. “Find our own answers”? Sounds like lecturers who come to class, don’t do anything remotely relevant to the actual course they’re lecturing for, and then when students complain they say that they’re not into spoonfeeding.
Calling evil robots names of angels from in the Bible, including the scene of a 14 year old masterbating over an unconscious girl and having vague endings isn’t “classic” to me. The Human Instrumentality Project is a bunch of artsy-fartsy bullshit that makes no sense to anyone not fond of thinking in the extreme abstract. Anno urges us to find our own answers because he himself has no answers for the very thing he created. Viewers on the other hand see NGE, not understand half of it, and thus equate this misunderstanding and vagueness to a great work of art. I appreciate the fact that the characters were complex, but who really cares? Is this a soap opera? Is it really a selling point to say that they’ve taken an extraordinary amount of screen time delving deep into the psyche of….animated characters? The protaganist, Shinji Ikari, is as annoying as they come. In the final episode/movie, he behaves like such an absolute pussy that it was painful to continue watching.
Its stated on Wikipedia that
“Hideaki Anno, the director of the anime series, had suffered from clinical depression prior to creating the series, and the psychological aspects of the show are based on the director’s own experiences with overcoming this illness.“
Um, I guess that meant he just injected his own crazy talk he used to mumble to himself when he was depressed or high into the dialogue after they ran out of money towards the end of the series (“There were serious budget and schedule restraints in the later episodes of the series”) and needed something to ”to help distinguish” EVA from…well other anime that make sense. Interestingly, the themes of the last several episodes reflect the preceding sentence.
All in all, Neon Genesis Evangelion is a bunch of bullshit, on a level as verbose as its title, designed to wow us into thinking it should be placed on a high pedestal over other anime as one of outstanding artistic integrity, when in fact its just an average mecha anime, thinly veiled with nonsensical messages pulled out of Psychology textbooks and Religious texts, injected with the “personal experiences” of its director, at an attempt of making it much more that it actually is.
No related posts.
< ![CDATA[Where are your old blogs? I'm intrigued.]]>
< ![CDATA[archives of old blogs are on the right viekevie, if u mean old blogs as in those on another site, i deleted them ages ago.]]>
< ![CDATA[So what you're basically saying is:
"Evangelion sucks because I'm to stupid and/or lazy to try and understand."
Quoting the creators about how it's possible to create your own meanings is a cop out. Yes, Evangelion wove a wide range of bullshit into its science fiction and drama, but that's what sets it out from the pack. The fact that Evangelion has such wide appeal even now stems from the fact that it IS possible to put the puzzle of possibly random bullshit together into a fair semblance of order, with a few things here and there left for speculation and your imagination. Some people actually LIKE having a puzzle to put together, and not many animes do that nearly as well as Evangelion did (or Serial Experiments Lain...though that's another discussion entirely).]]>
< ![CDATA[I'm not familiar with Serial Experiments Lain, but thanks for identifying it as something similar to NGE so that I won't waste my time on that either. Its not that i'm averse to stories that leave some things to the user's imagination. I liked the Matrix and the Da Vinci Code. I however did not like the ending of the Soprano's which was similarly PRAISED by some people as NGE was, as being overly "artistic"...why? For being totally vague? To me the directors of the Sopranos and NGE are the ones who copped out...but to each his own I guess.]]>
< ![CDATA[Hello!
Like you, I'm quite an old anime watcher (I literally grew up with animes in the 80's and 90's) and I must say that on my first watching of NGE, I was also completely puzzled and did have the feeling that the creators simply combined a classical mecha-series with a bunch of far-fetched Christian religious symbols that they don't even seem to understand themselves. I also went into searching what meaning there could have in linking such antic stuff as the Dead Sea Scrolls and Japanese science fiction future and couldn't find anything, because probably the authors have only a very vague clue about these Dead Sea Scrolls. Then, I realized something that made me find the whole series interesting from another angle. All the babble about Christian (and also quite a bit of Buddhist) symbols, alongside the weird science and well, plot line, is just there to divert us from the main issue. It's actually something that one can find quite often in cinema and literature. In my opinion, the main theme of the series are the relationships between the characters, who all have some kind of violent trauma in their life, and the not-so-far-fetched issue of integration in society. As you pointed out, Hideaki Anno has had some real psychological troubles in his life. To be more precise, he and his comrades at Gainax have all been otakus at one point of their life and they simply found a useful inspiration in this experience to run a successfull animation studio. Thus, the only somewhat "deep" meaning I could really find in NGE is a sort of message to other otakus telling them that they should get out of their bubble and meet the world, no matter how painful this could be. From our point of view, this might sound like a huge waste of cellos and energy, but if you consider the dimension of the otaku issue in Japan in the mid-1990's (and NGE was made for Japanese audience first and foremost), then, it becomes more understandable that a whole team would want to make a series dealing with such social problems.
So, I somewhat agree with you that calling NGE an absolut master work simply because one doesn't understand half of it, meaning that it should be a mark of high art, is of course absurd. However, I have been able to find a lot in it that makes me think of it as an important series, actually both in artistic and commercial terms. But it's definitely not my favorite anime and I'm not about to worship it as the best of the best in all times!
As for Serial Experiment Lain, it is true that the plot line is also confusing and it is actually somewhat difficult to identify with the main character. However, I wouldn't shy away from it simply because it is complexe. If you are interested in the way commercial products can account for some contemporary issues, especially that of the relationships between human being through the Internet, then, you might want to check it up. But you don't have to watch the whole thing either, if you don't feel like it!
P.S.: One of my favorite series is Ghost in the Shell - Stand Alone Complex. Not the easiest plot lines or even characters, but I think it is easier to see where the stories goes than in NGE!]]>
< ![CDATA[thanks for the comment Greypowered. I'll check out Ghost in the Shell when exams are over. I've been hearing about for a while but it never appealed to me as it seemed too...marketed towards men as it contains all that unnecessary female nudity..but then again Bleach is filled with women with big breasts so..]]>
< ![CDATA[Hello!
The female nudity in Ghost in the Shell (GITS) happens more in the 2 movies than in the series, although I would say that they emphasize more the "feminine" attributes of the main character (Motoko Kusanagi). However, they come as a contrast to her very "male" and dominating temper, with the result that both somewhat cancel out each others to leave the impression of a quite charismatic and out-of-the-ordinary female character. The 2 GITS series are quite long (over 30 episodes each), but I think they are well-made, both from a scenarist and a technical point of view. But it does require a lot of concentration, because there are several stories intervowed. So, yes, you might want to wait until exams are over. ;-) Good luck for these tough moments!]]>
< ![CDATA[Sounds interesting, thanks. Will need luck desperately]]>
< ![CDATA[Your site is the best!!
Please link to this site.
http://evangelion-nerv.blogspot.com/>
< ![CDATA[put your helmet back on, and go help dora find her little fox friend. "Sounds like lecturers who come to class, don’t do anything remotely relevant to the actual course they’re lecturing for, and then when students complain they say that they’re not into spoonfeeding." you are the worst. think for yourself. adapt.]]>
< ![CDATA[Yep, this is exactly what I thought about the anime. Good to know I'm not the only one, who found this series to be both uninspiring and vague. Ultimately it had no substance whatsoever. Thinking for yourself is all fine and dandy, but if the whole show consists of only thinking for oneself, why the hell is the show necessary then? Just to give "impulses"? Banging ones head against a concrete wall several times has the same effect, including falling into a coma.]]>
< ![CDATA[What a hell?
Evangelion sucks? Must be kidding....
It's the best anime I ever seen, and I've seen a lot of great animes.
And the angels are not "Robots" they are possible forms of evolution of mankind, and neither Evas are robots.
You miss all point of anime and didn't understand.
Evangelion is a complex anime that you must watch, rewatch to understand 100%.
I understand all the content of Evangelion except the last thing asuka said in the end.
For what I've read i can assume that you only like superficial animes (gundam, sailormoon, dragon ball z)
Pity...]]>
< ![CDATA["possible forms of evolution of mankind"
How does that even make sense? There are a lot of other far more complex things within a sci-fi universe that do. From what I've read you only like pseudo-intellectual anime like Evangelion, and you too "found your own meaning" to it.]]>
< ![CDATA[Okay... This is a good blog just because it is another opinion that you don't hear very often. Especially interesting because all of the things that I like most about it are the things the author seems to dislike. It may be ridiculous or nerdy to quote the series, but Kaji explains to Shinji at one point that you can never understand anything 100%. That, I feel, is the one and only truth contain in Evangelion.
When you think about it like that, relate to the characters (which, despite their exaggerated issues, I feel are very easy to relate too. Who does not suffer from pride, or loneliness, or inferiority, or uncertainty about life, etc.). Even until their end, the characters don't even know the real ends to their means and because they do not understand the goals of Nerv and Seele, they fight for personal worth any way they can.
The point of the series, I feel, is lost if you try and understand the significance of the Dead Sea Scrolls, or get hung up about what exactly the angles are. How many of the conflicts, and how much of the character building, existed solely because of that ambiguity. But if the plot didn't bring in at least some elements of reality, it would not have been so engaging.
To me, the most memorable parts of the show have little to do with Nerv vs. the angles. Everyone is into different things, but I think that]]>
< ![CDATA[Thank you for your website :)
I made on photoshop backgrounds for youtube, myspace and whatever
my backgrounds:http://tinyurl.com/5b8ksl
Hope you had a good day and thank you again!]]>
< ![CDATA[I personally feel that, seeing as Evangelion /is/ a psychological work first and foremost, it is wise to observe it and look at it's merits based primarily on that. The entire series is designed to force the viewer to answer their own questions, and if you expected it to be merely another mecha mash-up, naturally you'd be dissappointed. The entire series (to me at least) is about Shinji and his mental state, and the final two episodes capture the finale of his character arc brilliantly (once more, in my humble opinion).
The very fact that the core characters are 'sick', or rather mentally ill, provides Hideaki Anno with ample room in which to explore their psyches, 'what makes them tick', and to provide the audience with questions and provide their own answers to the riddles that Anno devises.
Lain is merely the spiritual successor to Evangelion, however it takes a far more narcisstic approach.
And also, the angels aren't 'robots'. They are strange visitors, the children of Adam, and are living, breathing creatures.
Feel free to tear me to shreds, I'm merely stating my own personal opinion on Evangelion and why it appeals to me.]]>
< ![CDATA[Well, evidently by its success NGE has appealed to a lot of people. My qualm is the reasons behind it.
Fight Club, The Sixth Sense, Primal Fear, Jigoku Shoujo, those are psychological works by nature, not because they ran out of money in production at the last minute and decided to go cheap and dazzle us with bullshit and arbitrarily go radical with the character development and story just to break the mold.
I just don't appreciate vague, worthless, "art", that's all. The questions raised in NGE are indeed many and complex, but they are questions I don't even care to find the answer for. "Can the world only be saved by the unification of all human minds"?
If airy-fairy stuff like that is what you like, cool, no offense to all fans though, but there are anime and movies more worthy of my praise.]]>
< ![CDATA[You guys don't know what Evangelion means, Anno doesn't know what evangelion means, because it doesn't fucking mean anything. It's not "deep and meaningful" it's a convuluted and pretentious pile of crap that Anno made because he went to therapy. I could go around all day speaking in stupid riddles and you wouldn't think I'm smart, just annoying. So why do you tolerate that kind of shit when it happens in a show?
The characters are nothing more than a list of fatal flaws cobbled together with a dime store novel plot and sprinkled with meaningless symbolism.
You could argue that that's the way it was intended to be... but a show that's intended to suck still, in the end, sucks]]>
< ![CDATA[If you don't like EVA, you either didn't get all the messages and sybolism, didn't understand the story or just plane biased because its a well received anime, this anime has more sense than the bible]]>
< ![CDATA[Wow, I basically felt the EXACT same way as you after watching it. It was a total waste of time. Before I even read the Wiki article (which I confess I read because I didn't understand the ending AT ALL) I knew this guy was either going insane himself, or he was just becoming unbearably pretentious. Most people simply defend themselves with empty words such as "it has meaning" without even explaining it. It was very intriguing in the beginning (minus the b*tching to his father in the first episode), but it slid really far downhill from then. The ending was nonsensical. There's no way anyone could have gotten anything from it. It's just a jumble of contradictory "philosophies" and rants that just get plain annoying. There are absolutely no references to Christianity...the guy simply named some aliens after angels. This is an incredibly overrated show by pretentious people made for pretentious people.
Also, you know a show sucks when you WANT the characters to die and shut the hell up. This is a friggen TV show, not some philosophy lecture. Give it a sense of closure, Sadamoto.]]>
< ![CDATA[heh, that guy said it makes more sense than the BIBLE. You are too stupid to watch anime. People like you give a bad name to Otakus. You disrespect the Bible as well.]]>
< ![CDATA[I agree entirely. I suffered through all those episodes interested in seeing how they would end the series, and got left with a terrible ending. The action was dull, characters were all just crazy except a few, and the plot was WTF-incarnate.
If you want a real, awesome "mech" anime, check out Gurren Lagann.]]>
< ![CDATA[NGE sucks!
It is by far not the worst anime series of all times, but that's about all.
While watching it I have a very distinct feeling that those created must have been really sick (poor guys). So reading the Hideaki Anno suffered from clinical depression was not a surprise to me. In fact, I would have find it very surprising that he was not... And while Hideaki has all my sympathy and I wish him to get/stay healthy, I would have very much preferred not to subject myself to the creation!? of a very disturbed man.
Bottom line: it is rubbish, though watching it is an interesting experience with respect to studying the effect of mental illnesses on anime production.]]>